Story England's World Cup Dream:England vs. Zimbabwe: England make good start!

[thesweepmaster]

Match Preview​

With England coming into the Super 8?s as the team with the best form, they are definitely the favourites to win. England have beaten New Zealand, Canada and Kenya in the group stages with all but 1 game being very comfortable.
Zimbabwe had a very poor start to the world cup campaign as they lost to Ireland but incredible victories against Pakistan and the West Indies, means that they certainly have what it takes to beat England in an ODI.
Both sides will be looking for a good start to the Super 8?s and hope to win the first game to get their campaign off to a good start, plus with both sides having a very realistic chance of reaching the semi-finals, then if either side win this, then this could give them added momentum if such a thing happened.

Team News​

Zimbabwe are expected to name their strongest team for this game as they have no new injury worries after main strike bowler Heath Streak passed a fitness test after the game against the West Indies.
Unlike Zimbabwe, England do have a few problems with Ryan Sidebottom as he pulled up in a net session yesterday. This now means that Stuart Broad will take his place in the side for his first game in an England shirt. The other surprise in the line-up is the inclusion of Owais Shah in the place of Andrew Strauss to open after the latter having a poor start to the World cup campaign only averaging 11 with the bat.

Teams

Zimbabwe
Ebrahim
Marillier
Vermeulen
Masakadza
Taylor
Chigumbara
Taibu
Streak
Murphy
Hondo
Mpofu

England
Prior
Shah
Vaughan
Bell
Pietersen
Collingwood
Flintoff
Mascarenhas
Panesar
Anderson
Broad

Coin Toss with Ian Botham​

IB: Hello there and welcome to Barbados for another glorious day of cricket. Obviously I have the two captains with me but first I must talk about the pitch. I must admit it is a very hard pitch and with the bounce likely to be very high then I would expect a lot of hooking to be done today. All in all, a beautiful day with a lot of runs to be expected so I would say bat first. Right then I have the 2 captains and Michael Vaughan will be tossing and Heath Streak calling. Right toss it Michael!

HS: Heads!

IB: Heads is the call and it is a... Tail, so England have won the toss, Michael what will you do?

MV: I listened to you earlier and thought he was spot on so I will say bat first and get a huge score on the board.

IB: Thanks for that Michael. Ok Heath, what would you have done if you won the toss?

HS: Well I would have liked to bat first but hey beggars can?t be choosers, so we will go with the flow.

IB: Cheers Heath, So there you have it, England have won the toss and elected to bat.

Zimbabwe celebrating their last victory over England, could history repeat itself?​

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheers guys for the comments, really appreciated. Anyway sorry this has taken along time to do, but I have had a lot of homework, since going back to college. Kepp them comments coming though, I do read them all!

 

[saladguy]

Decent England team selection. I reckon Shah will get a 50!

 

[thesweepmaster]

England Innings
England recover thanks to a great partnership from Shah and Vaughan​

England recovered well after losing Matt Prior with only 4 balls gone in the innings to reach 92-1 after 15 overs thanks to some great and powerful batting from Shah and Vaughan. Vaughan started as the aggressor by hitting 2 sixes in his first 10 balls of his innings, then bullied Hondo for 1 over hitting 3 boundaries, he reached 45 off 48 balls. Shah seemed to play the anchorman in the early going and was struggling but he managed to find his feet after a little while and then he in turn smashed 2 sixes in a 16 run over off leg spinner Murphy, he reached 44 off 38 balls. In between overs 1-15, England smashed 9 fours and 4 sixes but lost the wicket of Matt Prior in the process.

Heath Streak opened the bowling for Zimbabwe and made an immediate impact by taking the wicket of Matt Prior, but soon Vaughan smashed him around the park as he got figures of 7-1-35-1, not bad but not great from the skipper. Mpofu opened the bowling at the other end and seemed to do well against Shah only leaking the odd boundary; his figures were 5-0-23-0, a pretty good start but will have to keep it tight later. Hondo replaced Mpofu in the 12th over and was pummelled around the park in the first over by Vaughan but replied with a maiden over leaving him with figures of 2-0-18-0. Murphy replaced Streak in the 14th over and was smacked by Shah giving him figures of 1-0-16-0.

England have made an aggressive start and if both Vaughan and Shah continue, then It looks to be a long day for the Zimbabwean bowlers in the hot sun. However, they can take heart that a few of the runs came from edges so a wicket may come soon to them but at the moment, it is advantage England.

Highlights
Prior dismissed

Solid partnership

Scorecard

 

[saladguy]

Great start for the 3 lions! KUTGW Sweepmaster!

 

[Jaztheman]

Fantastic work by Shah and Vaughan, hopefully they can both get 50's and bring up the 100 partnership. Should get a good total here.

Great work Audrey.

 

[navin-boss]

Good start there for England..Vaughan and Shah may build up a good partnership for England.

Good update asusual..

 

[Pakistani Army]

Nice comeback by England. Vaughan and Shah need to build an even bigger partnership here.

Fantastic works Bob!

 

[Amiya]

England are in strong position. Waiting for a century by Shah. Great work Bob. KUTGW.